Saturday 30 July 2016

July 2016 Book Haul.

Hi booklovers

July was a great (or terrible, depending on how you look at it ;-p ) month for buying books.

These are the books I got:

* The first books are from the English bookshop, a secondhand bookshop in Ghent:

Everneath and Everbound by Brodi Ashton
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages by Brendon Sanderson
* The other books I got from The Bookdepository:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
What books did you get in July? Let me know in the comments.
 
Bye for now
 
Annelies

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard - (mostly) spoiler free review.

Hi booklovers

Today I'm going to review Red Queen, which I read in February.

Title: Red Queen
Author: Victoria Aveyard
Genre: YA, fantasy, dystopia
Format: Paperback
 
*Story:
Imagine living in a world where people are divided by the colour of their blood: Silver if you're high class, Red if you're low class.
The Silverbloods - Silvers - have different powers, the Redbloods - Reds - are the impoverished, working class.
Meet Mare, a Red girl with deadly powers. Once the Silvers discover that Mare has special powers, the royal family wants to convince the Silvers that she is one of them.
 
*Characters:
-Mare: a feisty Red about to be conscripted to go to war. She meets prince Cal - although she doesn't know he's the crown prince when they meet. Cal gets her a job as a serving girl in the palace. There, her powers manifest themselves and from there on the story unfolds.
I really like Mare as a charachter because she is a strong character. She tries to deal with all the stuff life has thrown at her. Even in her new situation she tries to fit in, even if it isn't in a way the Silvers - i.e. the Queen - want her to fit in.
 
-Prince Cal: he's the crown prince who is forced to choose his future queen during the Queen's Trial. Even though he doesn't like it, he still thinks this is what's best for his country. Cal is a very strategic person who wants to be a just leader one day. It quickly becomes apparent that he's falling in love with Mare. At one point I thought some of his actions might be a bit predictable, but it turned out I was mistaken.

-Prince Maven: he is the second son, born of the king and his second wife - and current queen. Being the second son, he doesn't have the same responsibilities as Cal, but on the other hand, he's also has the feeling he's being overlooked more often than not. I immediately felt sorry for him, because it seemed like he was destined for a life in his brother's shadows. But then stuff goes down and my whole opinion of him changed.

-Kilorn: He's Mare's lifelong friend. He was an apprentice to a fisherman, but when his mentor died, he was goint to be conscripted. He doesn't really know how he feels about Mare's new life, he's not really fond of Cal or any other Silver.

-Julian: He's Mare's teacher in the palace. He is one of the few people who actually knows that Mare is a Red with Silver powers. Julian is an interesting side-character who tries to keep Mare vigilant. He's constantly reminding her that 'Anyone can betray you'. He wants her to remain herself. He knows firsthand how vicious and deceitful Silvers and more specifically the Queen can be, so he wants Mare to understand that everything is done for a reason and that no one can be trusted.

*Plot:
The distinction between the Silvers and Reds was maybe not very original, but still well excecuted. Sure, it might have been a bit of a cliché, but I still liked the storyline very much. I have to admit that at one point I feared it might become predictable, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that wasn't the case. I know a lot of people saw the plot twist coming, but I didn't.
SPOILER:
The love triangle - or even love square - was tropy and it almost made me roll my eyes. But because prince Maven turns out to be this incredible douchebag, this is somewhat countered.
 
*World building:
The contrast between the cities of the Silvers and the slumps of the Reds is very well described. Again, this may be a bit of a cliché, but isn't this the case with most dystopian stories? I found myself transported into the world very quicly.
SPOILER:
I liked how the revolution was portrayed and how the contrast between the Silvers and Reds becomes more and more apparent as the story progresses.
 

*Overall rating:
I really enjoyed this book. Despite some clichés, the story did grip me really fast and I was very curious to see how the plot would unfold further - I have since read Cruel Crown and Glass Sword.


I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads.


Have you read this book and if so, what did you think of it? Let me know in the comments.


Bye for now


Annelies

Sunday 24 July 2016

Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag

Hi booklovers

The first half of the year has flown by so fast and I thought it would be fun to do the Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag. 
 
1. Best book you’ve read so far in 2016. 
See my Favourite books of 2016 so far post for this answer.

2. Best sequel you've read so far in 2016. 
Ice Like Fire by Sarah Raasch
3. New release you haven't read yet, but want to. 
There are a few: Stars Above by Marissa Meyer, The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson, ACOMAF by Sarah J. Maas (which I'm currently reading), Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine, The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye. As you can see, I have a lot of catching up to do.
 



















 















         Apart from the first three, I don't even own these new releases yet.

4. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
Although I haven't read Six of Crows yet, I'm excited for Crooked Kingdom.
I'm also excited for Heartless by Marissa Meyer.
5. Biggest disappointment.
It wasn't a total disappointment, but I didn't enjoy Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard as much as I thought. I described why in my May & June wrap-up.
6. Biggest surprise. 
Fables Volume 1 and Locke & Key Volume 1. I honestly didn't think I would enjoy these as much as I did.
7. Favourite new author. (Debut or new to you)
Helena Hunting was a new to me author and I immediately fell in love with her Clipped Wings books.
 















8. Newest fictional crush.
Hayden Stryker, the male lead from Clipped Wings and Inked Armor by Helena Hunting.

9. Newest favourite character.
Breanna Miller from Walk The Edge by Katie McGarry. She is one of those characters that goes through so much growth throughout her story.
10. Book that made you cry.
No surprises here: Second Chance Summer.
11. Book that made you happy.
12. Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received)
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard. I got this book as a New Year's gift from my boyfriend.
13. What books do you need to read by the end of the year?
I don't really have a TBR, just a list of 20 books I would like to read this year. (You can find the blogpost here. I've also done an update.)

14. Favourite Book Community Member.
Bre Faucheux, Little Book Owl, ThoughtsonTomes and Sam's Nonsense are a few of my favourite BookTubers.

How's your reading year going so far? What are your answers to (some of) these questions? Let me know in the comments.

Bye for now

Annelies

Wednesday 20 July 2016

May and June wrap up.

Hi booklovers

I know this is a bit late, but I still wanted to tell you what I read in May and June.

May:
*Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (V1) - Joe Hill - 4 stars. 
This was the second graphic novel I've read and even though it's completely different from Fables, I really enjoyed it. This is gritty and dark and at first it took me a while to get into it, but once I got used to it I loved it. I'm really looking forward to continuing with this series.

*Cruel Crown - Victoria Aveyard - 3 stars.
This was an okay read. I really liked the story of Queen Coriane, Prince Cal's mother. I really felt for her throughout the novella. I didn't like the novella from Farley's POV. Her story just didn't appeal to me. I don't know why, but I somehow pictured her to be much older while I was reading Red Queen. Do you need to read these? No. They add a bit to the main story, but they are not necessary.

*Groo: Friends and Foes (V1) - Sergio Aragonés - 3.5 stars.
I found out that this comic book isn't suited to read while on the train because sometimes you just start laughing out loud and that can be a bit embarrassing. I enjoyed this a lot and I want to read more stories about all of Groo's shenanigan's.

*The Great Hunt (WOT 2) - Robert Jordan - 4 stars.
I listened to this as an audiobook. Like with The Eye of the World I seem to pick up more details while listening to this story than when I'm actually reading it myself. It also helped that this is a reread. I'm slowly continuing with the series.

June:
*Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard - 4 stars.
I enjoyed this sequel a lot. There were a few plot twists I didn't see coming and the cliffhanger ending made me very curious to see where this will go. Have you seen the cover for book 3? It looks stunning.

*A lost legacy: Awakening (book 1) - C.E. Dimond - 3.5 stars.
This is an e-book I recieved in exchange for an honest review. I liked it, but I also had some problems with it. You can read my spoiler-free review here.

*Amy & Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson - 5 stars (reread).
After reading all those fantasy/dystopian/paranormal stories, I felt like reading some contemporary so I decided to reread this book by Morgan Matson. I have a spoiler-free review of this.

*Second Chance Summer - Morgan Matson - 5 stars (reread).
Since I loved my reread of Amy & Roger so much, I needed some more Morgan Matson, so I reread Second Chance Summer even though I knew I would be heartbroken. You can find my spoiler-free review here.

All in all I had two good reading months. Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What have you read - and enjoyed - during the months of May and/or June?

Bye for now.

Annelies

Tuesday 19 July 2016

Fantasy Favourites Read-A-Thon Wrap-up.

Hi booklovers

I just wanted to give you a quick wrap-up for the Fantasy Favourites Read-A-Thon.
I epically failed at reading Queen of Shadows. I needed to put it down after reading only 27 pages, because I could feel a slump coming on. I had just finished reading two very fast-paced books, so QoS moved along really slow for me. Even though I'd read the summaries for the other books in the series, it still took me too long to get into the story. I think I might need to reread all the books so I can get into the atmosphere of the story a bit easier.

I decided to pick up ACOTAR instead because I really enjoyed reading it last year. I've also seen a lot of raving reviews for ACOMAF and I really want to read that one, but I needed a reminder of ACOTAR. In the end I read 116 pages.
I'm not sure if I'm cut out to do read-a-thons - although I did enjoy the Anti-Bully-ReadAThon and the Author-A-Thon.

Did you participate in the Fantasy Favourite Read-A-Thon? I hope you did better than me.

Bye for now

Annelies

Monday 18 July 2016

Favourite books of 2016 (so far).

Hi booklovers

We're already halfway through July, so I tought I'd make a list of my favourite books of 2016 so far.

I'm going to divide this into categories:

*Fantasy: 

- Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising, both by Leigh Bardugo.
*Contemporary: 
- Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry.
 - Amy & Roger's Epic Detour and Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. These were both rereads. (Click on the titles to go to my spoiler-free reviews)

*NA: 
- Clipped Wings and Inked Armor both by Helena Hunting.


 












 
     *Graphic novels: 
                            - Fables Volume 1.                                     
- Locke & Key Volume 1.
Have you read any of these books/graphic novels? What are you favourite reads of 2016 so far? Let me know in the comments.


Bye for now
 
Annelies

Friday 15 July 2016

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson - spoiler free review.

Hi booklovers

After rereading Amy & Roger's Epic Detour (I have a review for this book here) I felt like going on a Morgan Matson binge read. So, I decided to pick up 'Second Change Summer' and reread that one before moving on to 'Since You've Been Gone', which has been on my shelf for over a year now.

Title: Second Chance Summer
Author: Morgan Matson
Genre: YA, contemporary
Format: paperback


*Story:
Taylor Edwards has a habit of running away when things get tough. This summer however, something happens to her dad that she can't escape. Her family is going to spend the summer at their lake house. There, Taylor will be confronted with all the things she ran away from five years earlier. Will she run away again or will she stay and her second chance?


*Characters:
-Taylor Edwards: A 17-year old girl who has a habit of not dealing with situations when they get tough, but instead she runs away from them. In the story, Taylor goes through a lot and she has to deal with a lot of emotions. Does she always react correctly to some of the things that happen? No, but that's just what makes her humane. I really liked Taylor as a character, she grows a lot throughout the story.


-Henry Crosby: He and Taylor had a crush when they were 12. They haven't seen each other for five years after Taylor ran off in a hurry. At first, he tries very hard to keep his distance from Taylor, he even acts a bit cold towards her. But then again, you can't really blame him for it, not after the way Taylor treated him. But Henry is such a sweet guy, who still cares about Emily very much. Plus, he works at a bakery ;-)


-Lucy Marino: She's Taylor's former best friend, but because Taylor ran away they haven't seen or spoken to each other for five years. Needless to say, Lucy isn't very happy to see Taylor again, especially when it turns out they will be working together during the summer. A lot of things have happened during the previous years and it takes a long time for Lucy to come to terms with Taylor being back in her life. Lucy is one of those characters you immediately like, even though she gives Taylor the cold shoulder at first. But then again, can you blame her? She's sassy and even though she sometimes does stupid things, she's someone you can count on.


-Robin Edwards: He's Taylor's dad. The things that are happening to him are the reasons Taylor has to go back to the lake house. He goes through a lot and even though he is very scared, he still keeps on going and I admire him for that.
 

!!SPOILER!!
The way he deals with the cancer progressing is in my opinion very humane: he's scared but he still tries to make the best of the time he has left. I was also very touched by all the letters he left behind for everyone to be read at certain moments in their future lives.
 
There are more characters in this book, but these were the ones I wanted to talk about.


*Plot:
I love how Morgan Matson turned this into a very believable story. You could feel - and believe - all the emotions each character goes through. This book was a rollercoaster of emotions, but somehow the characters and me as a reader got through it more or less okay. The details of the setting also made you feel like you were there with the characters. I also like that you get to know the things that happened five years earlier through flashbacks.


*Overall rating:
I loved this book just as much as I did the first time I read it and yes, I cried my eyes out again. This is still a solid 5 star read.
Because I read this back to back with Amy & Roger, I found the reference to that book, which I didn't the first time around :-)


Have you read this or any other Morgan Matson books? Which ones and which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments.


Bye for now


Annelies

Wednesday 13 July 2016

Fantasy Favourites Readathon: Which Throne of Glass Character Are You?

Hi booklovers

The second challenge for Throne of Glass series in the Fantasy Favourites Readathon is a quiz to determine which ToG character you are. You can find the original post here. (You can also find the link to the quiz in that post!)

I took the quiz and apparently I'm Chaol Westfall :-)
I'm not sure if everything in this description is true, but I do find it interesting :-)

As for the readathon itself: Unfortunately, I've only managed to read 27 pages of Queen of Shadows. I don't know why, but I feel like it's a slow read and I really need time to get back into the story. I think I might give it another 50 pages and if I'm not feeling it by then, I will move on to my reread of ACOTAR, because I'm afraid I might put myself in a reading slump otherwise.

Let me know in the comments which ToG character you are.

Bye for now

Annelies

Sunday 10 July 2016

Fantasy Favourites Read-A-Thon: Throne of Glass Playlist Shuffle Quiz.

Hi booklovers

As I said in one of my previous posts, I'm going to be participating in the Fantasy Favourites Read-A-Thon, hosted by Inge and Aly and Olivia

I'm starting this read-a-thon with Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. The first challenge for this book series is called the 'Throne of Glass playlist shuffle quiz'. (Click on the name to go to the original post by Ali). Basically, you set your phone/ipod/computer on shuffle and hit ‘next’ for every question. The song that pops up is that question’s answer!

I should warn you that I'm a huge metal fan, so maybe these won't be familiar songs. Even though some titles might actually be suitable for the question I assure you, I didn't cheat and I did press shuffle :-)
Okay, here goes.

1. This song describes the Throne of Glass series: Cast Away - Visions of Atlantis
 
2. This song what Chaol Westfall is caught singing at drunk karaoke: Cliffs of Gallipoli - Sabaton
 
3. This song describes a battle scene: Abyss Of Twilight - Altaria
 
4. This song is playing whilst Calaena stalks across the rooftops like a badass: The Dragon Lies Bleeding - Hammerfall

5. This song describes the ToG plot: Alpenglow - Nightwish
 
6: During a battle, Calaena, Dorian and Chaol are fighting to this song: Redemption - Hammerfall

7. Battles! Magic! Possible murder! This song is playing when the plot thickens: Agnus McFife - Gloryhammer

8. This song will most likely play at the worst possible moment: Angels Calling - Sabaton

9. This song describes your Chaol Westfall: Aces High - Iron Maiden

10. This song is the finale: The Outlaw - Hammerfall

I have to admit this turned out pretty good :-s

What do you think of the outcome? Are you participating in the read-a-thon?
Let me know in the comments.
 
Bye for now
 
Annelies

Tuesday 5 July 2016

Collective January - June 2016 book haul.

Hi booklovers

Like last time, I'm going to be doing a collective bookhaul of the last six months (or rather, the first six months of 2016).

*January
- A murder of Crows - Anne Bishop
- Saga Volume 1 - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

- The Final Empire - Brandon Sanderson
*February
- A Memory of Light - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

- Trial by Fire - Josephine Angelini
- Mystic City - Theo Lawrence
- Fire & Flood - Victoria Scott
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone - Laini Taylor (this was a gift)

- Abraham Lincoln, vampire hunter - Seth Graeme-Smith
- The last American vampire - Seth Graeme-Smith (these were both gifts as well)
- Siege & Storm - Leigh Bardugo
- Ruin & Rising - Leigh Bardugo
- Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo

- Ice Like Fire - Sara Raasch
*March
- Written in Red - Anne Bishop
- Glass Sword - Victoria Aveyard

e-books
- Bad Romeo - Leisa Rayven
- Clipped Wings - Helena Hunting
- Amour amour - Krista & Becca Ritchie
- Kindred Spirits - Rainbow Rowell
- Walk the Edge - Katie McGarry
 

audiobooks
- The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan
 

*April
- Cruel Crown - Victoria Aveyard
- Stars Above - Marissa Meyer

- The Invasion of the Tearling - Erika Johansen

e-books
- Inked Armor - Helena Hunting
- Cracks in the Armor - Helena Hunting
- Cupcakes and Ink - Helena Hunting
- Between the cracks - Helena Hunting
 

audiobooks
- The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan

*May
- An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir
audiobooks
- The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan

*June
- Little Women & Good Wives - Louisa May Alcott
- The Bone Season - Samantha Shannon
- The Crown Tower - Michael J. Sullivan
- Spellwright - Blake Charlton
- Vampire Academy graphic novel - Richelle Mead

- Fables volume 2

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them?
 

Bye for now
 

Annelies